Last week we got pretty excited about United's news to bring some 787 Dreamliners across the Equator for the long trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne, beginning in fall 2014. While this won't mark the first flight from SoCal to Australia's cultural capital, it is the first for the US airline; United used to first stop in Sydney, then hit the sky again to Melbourne.

If MileagePlus isn't your preferred loyalty program, there are plenty of other options to hop on the nearly 16-hour flight down under. In fact, there are two other airlines running here nonstop from the US, making that long way over the Pacific.

When it comes to in-flight safety, the last thing that probably comes to mind is a bevy of bronzed swimsuit babes frolicking on the beach. If you're Air New Zealand, however, that combination makes perfect sense. And, seeing as how the airline has a strong history of creative safety videos, it makes even more sense.

Using swimsuit models can be considered gratuitous, but this time there's pretty good reason for the exposed skin. The Kiwi airline has partnered with both Sports Illustrated and the Cook Islands to bring us this season's newest pre-take-off demonstration, Safety in Paradise.

Air New Zealand actually celebrates 40 years of flying to the Cook Islands, while SI celebrates its 50th year of showcasing the newest bikini fashion in tropical locations.

An idea from Air New Zealand that practically revolutionized economy class travel is now being licensed out to different airlines to tempt flyers to book long-haul flights. China Airlines liked the kiwi airline's SkyCouch so much, they arranged to have it on its newest planes.

China Airlines, the first airline to agree to (what we can only imagine) a hefty licensing price-tag, will now include the roomy row of economy seats to its newest delivery of 777-300ERs. The keys to these new birds should be handed over by September of this year, so if you've got plans to spend some time in the air over the Pacific on one of these planes, you might get lucky.

Yet another new Hobbit movie has the folks down at Air New Zealand all excited to launch their latest homage to Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. The Kiwi airline has given fans of the movie a sneak peak of the latest release's namesake character by emblazoning a plane with Smaug, a mythical dragon of The Hobbit: The Desolation of the Smaug.

There's no doubt that Air NZ loves anything and everything Hobbit, as this is actually the second Boeing 777-300 to be wrapped with a Hobbit scene. Both colorful Boeings regularly fly between New Zealand and the US, which makes Los Angeles the best place to spot the new dragon.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Aeromexico:We certainly can’t complain about a new way to get to and from Los Cabos, Mexico, and thanks to Aeromexico there's now a new option in and out of New York City. The plan is to start flying back and forth beginning on January 18, as Aeromexico does the nonstop thing between New York-JFK and San Jose del Cabo. The new options will fly once per week, as planes and people will take to the skies on Saturdays around 7am and will arrive down in paradise around 11am—all times local. Sounds like the perfect timing for this kind of flight, as we’re pretty sure there are many in the area looking for a warm weather escape once January rolls around.

· Delta:More news from Delta this week, as they continue to boost their options in and out of Seattle. The city is hardly a hub for the airline, but they certainly have been busy adding new options and destinations out of the area.

This week it was announced that they will be doing the nonstop thing down to San Diego four times each and every day beginning on June 2 of next year. After that—starting on September 2—they’ll also be heading to Portland with the same type of frequency. There will be some smaller planes doing their thing between these cities and states, as Delta Connection—thanks to SkyWest—will be operating some Bombardier CRJ-900 regional jets.

Just in time for the southern summer, there's an ultimate travel contest for anyone with more stamps in their passport than Facebook friends. Since the Antarctic is no ordinary place, it calls for no ordinary assignment. Air New Zealand and National Geographic have teamed up to find the world's most adventurous traveler to call the South Pole home for a little while, with the goal of bringing environmentalism to the forefront for rest of the world.

As one of the most fragile places on earth, Antarctica is home to not only a lot of ice and penguins, but a handful of research stations to expand knowledge of the frozen continent. The lucky winner of the Air NZ contest will work side-by-side with a few scientists and National Geographic photographer, Jason Edwards at one of these stations. The winner will learn about environmental issues hurting our planet's southern most ice mass and, ultimately, the rest of earth.

We already told you how we scored a $600 last-minute upgrade on Air New Zealand from Los Angeles to Auckland, so of course we want to share. Along with our super cushy mattress-covered lie-flat seat, we weren't left hungry on the 13-hour flight over the Pacific.

If you've been lucky enough to visit the island nation of New Zealand, you know they take their food (and wine) very serious. It's no different at altitude, as Air NZ have tapped celebrity chef Peter Gordon to design their in-flight menu for business class passengers.

We heard Qantas was doing something like this, and now Air New Zealand is joining in on the fun. The carrier is getting ready to start some new flights over to Antarctica, but these planes will actually be landing on the snow and ice. These flights won’t just be for sightseeing, as Air New Zealand wants to determine how feasible it is to run flights to and from Antarctica.

The thought is that scientists and researchers need to get to Antarctica, so it makes sense for Air New Zealand to get them there. Usually the Air Force takes care of these flights, but soon you might just be ordering a nice refreshing selection from the beverage cart before coming in for a landing.

The masters of creative and humorous in-flight safety videos have struck again with another brilliant take on maintaining well-being during flight and in the event of an emergency. We've seen Air New Zealand use nude cabin crew, cartoons, and even hobbits, but this time they've recruited Betty White to help us remember to fasten our seatbelts and point out the emergency exits.

The Golden Girl is featured in the airline's latest vid, titled "Safety Old School Style," as some Air NZ cabin crew help passengers with all the basics. Betty gets a little backup from some other "folks that have been there and done that," including The Love Boat's most famous cruise ship captain, Gavin McCloud.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Delta:The smaller jets are on the move this week, as Delta is building upon their route network in both Seattle and San Francisco. New nonstops will begin between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and San Francisco International Airport, as Delta starts six new daily options beginning at the end of March. Eventually—like around June 5—the flights will be bumped up to seven daily flights. The always comfortable and cozy Bombardier CRJ700s and CRJ900s will be in charge of the flying fun, and the flights should have first class cabins along with some up in the air WiFi.

· Air Astana:New flights news for those over in Kazakhstan, as Air Astana is getting ready to start up some new flights. The new flight will head over to London-Heathrow beginning on October 29. This is an upgrade to the existing options, as round-trip flights will now run thrice weekly between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom. Boeing 757s will be used on these flights, with a few spots up front in business class and way more spots in economy.

Hopping between club nights around the world, international DJ Max Graham is seemingly always up in the air and plugged in. Still, evolving travel technology means encountering new features every so often. Here, he shares his impression of a first flight using using streaming entertainment to a personal device:

I recently booked myself on Virgin Australia from Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia to Brisbane, Australia in order to join two other DJs for a four gig Oz tour. About two days before the flight I got an email from Virgin Australia informing me that my upcoming flight had their “wireless entertainment system” and that I should do three things to use it: download their app, activate the app before I fly, and make sure my device is fully charged (no power onboard, I guessed).

So i did just that, grabbed the free app for my iPhone from the app store and fired it up for a quick registration process. Once my travel day arrived and I boarded the plane, it really could'nt have been much easier. I joined their onboard signal, launched the app, and was immediately presented with options titled Watch, Listen, Information, etc, and further segmented into categories for Movies, TV Series, Music Videos, and more.